


Love Guru

by Burgie



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/F, F/M, Miqo'te WoL, female WoL, in which the boys are hopeless and a wol cannot have just one day of peace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29482530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: When Valentione's Day finally gives Guydelot a push in the right direction, Veronyka begins to regret offering to help him.
Relationships: Lyse Hext/Warrior of Light, Sanson Smyth/Guydelot Thildonnet
Kudos: 8





	Love Guru

Veronyka was getting rather unfortunately used to seeing Guydelot making a beeline for her whenever she chanced to be in the Shroud. No matter where she happened to be, oddly enough. But, right on cue, there he was, sauntering towards her as if he meant to speak with one of the other adventurers that Veronyka stood with. Or to walk right in front of the Mindflayer. That would work too.

Guydelot gave a yelp as Veronyka manipulated aether to yank him towards her as Mindflayer turned to (stride? Float?) menacingly in another direction.

“Oi!” Guydelot snapped at her. “What was that- oh.” He turned as Veronyka pointed at the tentacled creature, and Veronyka nodded.

“Yes, oh,” said Veronyka. “Need I remind you that I have a linkpearl?”

“Why use a linkpearl when I know to just follow the hunt?” Guydelot asked. “Plus, Sanson says not to bother you because you’re very busy saving the world or whatnot.”

“When has his opinion ever stopped you before?” Veronyka asked. She raised her bow at a signal from the hunt leader, readying her first song. “Follow my lead and you probably won’t die.”

Several seconds later, the hunters dispersed, Veronyka headed towards Buscarron’s for a well-earned wine (which he did stock now, upon her own request. It paid to be a hunter, apparently).

“So, what did you want?” Veronyka asked as she sat at a table, noticing that the elezen’s eyes, for once, didn’t seem to wander overmuch.

“I have once again come to you for advice,” said Guydelot. “Not on singing, though, that’s more Stiff’s thing.”

“And you wouldn’t want to take that away from him?” Veronyka asked. “He might like it, you know, if you performed a new song for him.”

“That is a good idea, actually,” said Guydelot, taking a sip of his drink. “Not what I came here for, though. Should I take him out for Valentione’s?”

“Seriously?” Veronyka asked. “You’re asking me if you should take your crush on a date for Valentione’s? Didn’t I once hear that you’d slept your way through the Shroud?”

“Well, yes, but this is different,” said Guydelot. Veronyka arched a brow.

“Say it, then,” said Veronyka, sipping at her wine. “If you want my help, you have to admit to what you want.”

“It’s different because I’m going to be seeing him every day and I don’t want to ruin our working relationship if things go badly and maybe I don’t want things to go badly, maybe I want to be with him. Romantically.” Now, Guydelot picked up his mug and took a long swig of it, scoffing and looking away at the grin on Veronyka’s face.

“There, now, was that so hard?” Veronyka asked.

“Yes, actually,” said Guydelot.

“I’d say that men are bad at expressing their emotions but the men I know seem to have no problem with it. It won’t ruin your reputation to have emotions, you know.”

“Yes, it will,” said Guydelot.

“Plenty of people have seen me at my weakest, they’ve seen me break, yet everyone still sees me as a hero,” said Veronyka.

“Well, sorry I haven’t saved the realm thrice over and liberated Ala Mhigo and Doma and ended the Dragonsong war and whatever it was you did on the First,” said Guydelot.

“Well, when you put it like that,” said Veronyka. “But it won’t hurt, you know, to show your emotions around him. It’s not like he’s going to laugh at you or tease you or anything. Unlike some Gridanians, Sanson is nice. It’s an extremely rare trait for a Gridanian.”

“I’m among the asshole Gridanians, aren’t I?” said Guydelot. Veronyka sipped at her drink, giving her answer that way. “Hey, at least I’m not racist.”

“Yeah, you’ll sleep with anyone once,” said Veronyka. “But you are almost one of the good ones.”

“I’ll take it,” said Guydelot. “And-“

“And yes, you should take him out for Valentione’s, by the Twelve, you’re thick sometimes,” said Veronyka. “If you need anything, I’ll be a linkpearl call away. Please take advantage of it, I’m getting tired of saving you from hunt monsters.”

“I only almost got eaten by Theda!”

“And trampled by a hunt train, and you got knocked out by Wulgaru, and Laid-“

“Okay, okay, I get it! No more surprising you at hunts.”

“Good.”

It had been a stroke of genius, truly, to combine the Little Lady’s Day performance with Valentione’s. Not only were there the usual romantic festivities and atmosphere happening in Gridania, now, there was a concert to take your date to in Ul’dah. Or dates, in the case of Zelda (Estinien having been dragged out of hiding by Krile and Tataru once more). Veronyka and Lyse arrived separately to those three, though, Veronyka feeling the familiar discomfort at being back among the sandstone buildings once more. Grief, mixed with anger at the Syndicate for still drawing breath. But she had Lyse, and in a strange twist of fate, the former Scion who had been infamous for violence was the calm one.

“We should get some glowsticks!” Lyse declared, drawing Veronyka’s attention away from the Adventurer’s guild and painful memories of the past.

“Glowsticks?” Veronyka repeated, grateful for the distraction.

“Yeah, you know, to cheer ‘em on,” said Lyse, making the cheering motions with her hands. Veronyka giggled, glad for the brief bubble of happiness.

“Sure, why not?” said Veronyka.

“And we have to get their signed things, of course, and those cute little ribbons and hats…” Lyse trailed off, making a beeline for one of the souvenir stalls. Veronyka followed, but a ringing in her ear stopped her.

“Hang on, I have to take this,” said Veronyka, tapping the linkpearl. “Hello?”

“What do you do on a date?” Veronyka was surprised to hear Guydelot’s voice, though at least she wasn’t saving his skin again.

“Er, you… spend time together? Buy some sweet things, buy whatever he wants,” said Veronyka. “Listen to music together.”

“Is that what you did on your first date?” Guydelot asked.

“No, we also had fireworks to watch,” said Veronyka, smiling at the warmth of the memory of that Moonlight Faire evening. When she had climbed the jumping puzzle and sat first with her friends and then with Minfilia, the two of them enjoying the feeling of being on top of the world together. So far away from the worries of below.

“Well, we don’t have those here,” said Guydelot. Veronyka glanced over at Lyse, who was holding up two pairs of glowsticks triumphantly, and smiled.

“Is he there with you now?” Veronyka asked.

“Yes,” said Guydelot. Veronyka shook her head in amusement.

“Then stop talking to me and go talk to him,” said Veronyka.

“About what?” Guydelot asked as she was about to end the call.

“Your interests, your hobbies, whatever you want,” said Veronyka. “You’re never tongue-tied, Guydelot, just talk to the guy. Without insulting him. Or find something to talk about, you’re good at that. I’m hanging up now.” Mercifully, he did not try to speak as she pressed the linkpearl again to silence him.

“You’d think those two would know what they’re doing by now,” said Lyse as she came back over to Veronyka, handing her a pair of glowsticks and holding out three different colours of ribbons.

“The blue one,” said Veronyka, holding out her wrist. “And I know, they’ve worked together so long, you’d think that they’d at least have some idea.”

“Part of me thinks they just need to jump into bed together and sort out all their differences,” said Lyse. Veronyka laughed with her.

“I wish, if they’re having this much trouble just going on a date,” said Veronyka. “Anyway, I hope they have a good time and don’t need my help too much. I’m starting to think that it was a bad idea to even offer to help them.”

“The warrior of light, solving your love life dilemmas,” said Lyse. Veronyka snorted, shaking her head and then smiling as Lyse pressed a kiss to the back of her hand after tying the ribbon in a bow around it.

“It’s better than being an honorary post moogle,” said Veronyka. “Let me do your wrist.” Once, Veronyka’s left hand would have fumbled, thanks to an injury sustained in the battle at the Reach. But now, thanks to constant exercises to strengthen it and tonics to keep it steady, it was easy enough to hold a bow or create a bow of a different kind. “There.” She pressed a kiss to the back of Lyse’s hand, as Lyse had done, and smiled at Lyse’s blush. And then groaned as her linkpearl chimed again.

By the midway point of the concert, Veronyka had received no less than fifteen calls from both of the men on their date, the questions ranging from who should pay for dinner (both if you can’t decide), what to talk about when conversation ran out (literally anything but the weather), and if war was a good topic of conversation (no, Sanson, it is not).

“D’you think they’d notice if you just turned your linkpearl off?” Lyse asked.

“Gods, no, they’d track me down to here,” said Veronyka.

“Good point,” said Lyse.

Mercifully, the linkpearl was quiet for some time after that. So much so that Veronyka began to worry that it was broken. And then, in the middle of a slow song, when Veronyka danced with her arms around Lyse, it chimed again.

“I don’t want to answer that,” said Veronyka, not moving her head from Lyse’s chest.

“Then don’t,” said Lyse.

“If even Fray can’t make me say no, nobody can,” said Veronyka, tapping the linkpearl. “What?”

“How do I kiss him?”

“Guydelot. You’ve slept with more people than there are trees in the Twelveswood, I think you should know how to kiss by now.” Lyse was startled into snickering. “Lyse is laughing at you.”

“I know, but- how do I know when it’s the right time? I don’t want to come on too strong or-“

“Guydelot, just kiss him. You know when someone wants to kiss you, so just go for it. I don’t think he’ll stop you, but he will stop you if it’s too much. Hell, you’ll stop when it’s too much. Go. Kiss the boy.” And she tapped her linkpearl again.

“I mean, that worked for us,” said Lyse. “Once I was me and you were not on the verge of a nervous breakdown.”

“It did,” said Veronyka. Her linkpearl chimed again, and she buried her head into Lyse’s chest with a groan. “What.”

“Guydelot just kissed me, do I kiss him ba-“

“YES”

“Those two are hopeless,” said Lyse, shaking with laughter as Veronyka tore the linkpearl from her ear and tossed it into a nearby fountain. Veronyka couldn’t quite stay mad with Lyse so full of mirth and warmth.

“They really are,” said Veronyka. “I’m sure I’ll receive both versions of events once I’m back in Gridania.”

“Living up to your patron deity, huh?” said Lyse.

“I sure am,” said Veronyka. “It’s kind of exhausting, actually, I don’t know how Menphina does it. Then again, she is a goddess.”

“Many people wonder how you do it, too,” said Lyse. Veronyka smiled at her, a purr rumbling up in her chest. “You’ve overcome so much, been through more than what most people could bear. The fact that you’re still here and sane is, quite frankly, a miracle.”

“Well, as sane as you can be with a Warrior of Darkness sharing your soul and a manifestation of your own personal self care demon living in your head,” said Veronyka. “But I have you and I have my friends and family to help me hold it together. No matter what life throws at us.”

“Kind of bizarre to be celebrating with those towers everywhere, huh?” said Lyse.

“Gotta celebrate sometime,” said Veronyka. “And things like this are a reminder of why my friends and I fight. Because we have to save the realm, to protect this. To protect the happiness and lives of these people, and celebrations like this one.”

“For those we have lost and those we can yet save?” Lyse asked.

“Bingo,” said Veronyka, and leaned up to kiss her. For once, those words brought not grief but hope. A new hope. Hope for the future, for potential possibilities, the idea that things could continue to be okay. So long as there were those willing to fight.


End file.
